A penalty 25 metres out and virtually in front of the posts to win the game on a ground where Worcester had never previously enjoyed success was not the cue for premature celebrating for the hundreds of Warriors supporters gathered behind the posts at either end of the ground. They watched in near silence as Loki Crichton stepped up to claim the ball and the Samoan nervously puffed his cheeks out as he waited for his tee to arrive.

Crichton had been a hero at Worcester some 20 months before following another last-second penalty in front of the posts. He was then playing for Newcastle and his missed kick that March night, which condemned the Falcons to defeat, was a significant factor behind the Warriors' Premiership survival that season as they eventually finished a point above relegated Northampton.

Crichton's kick yesterday came in the 11th minute of stoppage time. Wasps fell behind early on but recovered to take the lead with scores either side of half-time. As the champions started to off-load in contact and play with some swagger, it looked grim for Worcester. But only for a moment. For a team containing 13 full internationals, Wasps lacked direction and their challenge coasted along one blind alley too many.

Lawrence Dallaglio had before the start of the game received a presentation, having shrugged off an insistent jobsworth who demanded that he wear an identity tag around his neck before walking on to the pitch, and Wasps are missing the example their former captain set on the field more than his ability as a player. There was no one to shake them yesterday as they lost control of a game that they had enough possession to win comfortably.

Worcester did remarkably well to stay in contention considering their scrummage creaked, their lineout functioned fitfully and they again fell foul of the referee at the breakdown. The try they conceded, two minutes before half-time, was typical of their wastefulness: Sam Tuitupou's thumping tackle on James Haskell saw Worcester seize the loose ball only to get turned over in the tackle. Wasps counter-attacked and Eoin Reddan sent over Paul Sackey with a neat reverse pass.

That was as good as it got for Wasps. Dave Walder gave them the lead 10 minutes after the restart with a short-range penalty after another breakdown offence, but he badly missed what would have been the winning kick with two minutes of normal time remaining after Dale Rasmussen had tackled Dominic Waldouck around the neck. Not that it should have come down to that: while Worcester played well for position in the opening half, they saw less of the ball later on.

"We wanted to start with a bang and we have not done so," said Wasps' director of rugby, Ian McGeechan. "It is unacceptable and a concern." He pointed out how the law variations had prompted a barrage of kicking out of hand, an increase in the amount of time the ball is in play but not in quality time, and said that with the breakdown not refereed so strictly, it is counter-productive to counter-attack because players risk giving away three points.

As happened to Wasps after 25 minutes. Worcester were five points ahead after Tuitupou scored the game's opening try, overrunning Matthew Jones's high kick into the 22 and being handily placed when the ball bounced off the arm of Lewsey, who had appeared to be impeded by the former New Zealand centre. Jones made it an eight-point lead after Simon Shaw ran the ball from his own 22 only for Wasps to be penalised after the tackle.

Another handling error by Wasps gave Worcester the ball in the dying seconds. Miles Benjamin was twice involved in a move that ended with Tom Palmer being penalised for not releasing the tackled player. Up stepped Crichton for his admirably dealt-with encounter with déjà vu. "We had faith in him," said the Worcester head coach, Mike Ruddock. "He has taken stick in the past for his kicking, but it is something we have worked hard on in training with him and it gave us the victory we deserved."

This was meant to be the part of the season when Wasps stored points to sustain them during the parts of the season when they will lose players to international sides. One consolation is that, on this form, they will not be badly disrupted. They are a club about character-building, but the loss of one particular character has left a large hole in the roof.